The World’s Top 5 Criminal Tattoos

Throughout modern history, Tattoos have been associated with Criminality. Over the centuries tattoos have been the indelible marks of royalty, of loyalty to a gang, of religious devotion and pledges of love. Among criminals, Tattoos can be used to show membership of gangs and record the wearer’s personal history – such as his or her skills, specialties, accomplishments and convictions. They used best tattooing machines for they work. They are also used as means of personal expression. Of late certain designs have been developed to recognize coded meaning. The code systems can be quite complex and, because of the nature of what they encode, they are often not widely recognized.Bellow is list with no specific order:

Mara Salvatrucha Tattoos

Mara Salvatrucha a.k.a MS, Mara, and MS-13 is a criminal gang that began to operate in Los Angeles in the 1980s. The MS has spread across the United States and Central America with startling speed, boasting tens of thousands of members. They deal ruthlessly with competing gangs and any members who display disloyalty, often leaving a trail of dismembered corpses in their wake. They are poised to surpass the Mafia as the country’s most organized criminal network. And by operating within the insular Central American immigrant communities, the Mara Salvatrucha has been able to easily elude law enforcement agencies. Many Mara Salvatrucha members cover themselves in tatoos. Common markings include “MS”,”13″, “Salvatrucha”, the “Devil Horns”, the name of their clique.

The Russian Crimina Tattoos

Russian criminal tattoos have a complex system of symbols which can ‘read’ to give quite detailed information about the wearer. Not only do the symbols carry meaning but the area of the body on which they are placed may be meaningful too. The initiation tattoo of a new gang member is usually placed on the chest and may incorporate a rose. A rose on the chest is also used within the Russian Mafia. Tattoos done in a Russian prison have a distinct bluish color and usually appear somewhat blurred because of the lack of instruments to draw fine lines. In addition to voluntary tattooing, tattoos are used to stigmatize and punish individuals within the criminal society. ‘Grins’ may be placed on an individual who fails to pay debts in card games and often have very blatant sexual images, embarrassing the wearer.

Yakuza Tattoos

Extensive body tattoos (‘body suits’) are commonly worn by Yakuza members. These traditional tattoos are known as Irezumi in Japanese. Their size and elaborate nature show not only the wearers’ affiliation, but also his ability to endure pain. Instead of being used for ritual or status purposes, tattooed marks began to be placed on criminals as a punishment. Tattooing was legalized by the occupation forces in 1945, but has retained its image of criminality. For many years, traditional Japanese tattoos were associated with the Yakuza and many businesses in Japan (such as public baths, fitness centers and hot springs) still ban customers with tattoos.

Triads Tattoos

Traid is the western name given to a Chinese secret society (because of the importance of the triangle, representing the harmony of Earth, Heaven, and Man, in the initiation ceremonies). Triads take part in the full range of criminal activities that most other forms of organized crime gangs do, with a few extra as well. Tattoos have been proudly worn by members of the triads since Qing Dynasty times. The tattoos are often elaborate, covering much of the body, and feature Chinese characters mixed with mythical animals such as dragons and phoenixes.

Britain Mafia Tattoos

ACAB is an acronym often integrated into prison tattoos in the United Kingdom. It is most commonly rendered with one letter between the knuckle and first joint of each finger, sometimes as symbolic small dots with or without the accompanying letters. Also commonly presumed to be associated with the UK prison system (often incorrectly) are words on the knuckles, homemade tattoos (cotton, needle and indian ink) and similar. Many prison / jail related tattoo designs are now adopted by the youth culture as a means of identifying themselves as tough, mean, or to imply their willingness to go to jail for their crew or gang. ACAB can stand for All Coppers Are Bastards, or Always Carry A Bible, but most likely All Coppers Are Bastards depending on who is asking and whether the bearer is trying to make a good impression.

the name triad is translated into english by the phrase 三合會
which literally means the groups where the three join …
the time … the event … the people …
time being the right time to meet the people
the event puts you in the situation where you meet the people
the people are the ones that help you during this time and event …
as for the tattoos … im not sure what they have now but traditionally triad tatoos are of dragons and buddhas and words … not abstract pictures and spiders

I watched a show on TLC A while back that profiled some guy that has a surreal face of jesus/satan that turns into a tree across his chest. By far the best prison/gang tattoo to date. If anyone knows of this tattoo/person please email me.

My uncle just got a tattoo of an old school pin up girl. It was fantastic work. Looked great. Does anyone else see 60+ year old men, who have never had a tattoo, getting them. He isn’t going through a mid life crisis, no divorce or other life changing happenings. He just got one. WTF was he thinking.

How much is too much tattooing. I used to drive a cab and tourists would comment on how nice people are and how many tats they had. I hadn’t thought about it until then but, Portlander’s do seem to get tats just to have them. I guess more ink = more better. Personally I don’t think should get a tattoo of a turtle just because they went to Cancun on vacation. I think the tat should have more meaning. It is, however, good for business. Anyone have a differing idea. I’d be glad to hear it.

Do you think people are getting tattoos without having any idea what they mean. Or why they wanted it. My nephew explained to me that he got a full sleeve tattoo because he thought it would be cool. He is old enough to have a tatoo and had the money to pay for it. So everything was legit except for his reason. I have tats but they all have meaning and I had to earn the priveldge of wearing them. What’s you take on people getting tats for no reason.

My nephew just got a tattoo. It looked great and it had meaning for him. So it made sense. I took him out for a beer to celebrate. My niece went with us and she asked me what I thought about her getting a tattoo. I told her absolutely not. Any other male chauvanist pigs out there that think women are beautiful just they way they are.